[Billy Foster]

Jean
We have a sheep farm in Maine and live every day with coyotes in our back yard. Most of how we manage our flock has to do with keeping the coyotes from having the opportunity to get a lamb. I can say with a lot of confidence that you have had coyotes for some time and you are now merely aware of it because of the snow. My experience with coyotes is very much not similar to Countrymouse’s. We use LGDs to guard our flock and have NEVER EVER had a dog vs. coyote encounter. The local pack knows that they can get a chicken or cat down the road and it is not worth getting injured when there is an easier meal in the neighborhood. Coyotes’ are opportunists if they can get a meal easier than by fighting a dog, they are going there. They evolved to have a very strong self preservation mechanism. In more developed areas there are a lot of places for scavengers to get a safe meal than fighting another dog, do you have neighbors with chickens? As long as they are not loosing birds you are most likely safe. I am not saying that they cannot be fierce, a couple towns over a horse was injured so bad that it had to be put down because it was being chased by a pack of coyotes. This incident was in the end of the winter and it was in a very rural area where there was not a lot of human presence; the game wardens said that the pack was very large and probably had social complications from a large number of male members which created the casing frenzy. Your dogs are probably the best tool you have to let those coyotes know that “this is my space”. Walk the property with your dogs, let them put there sent all over the place. A barking dog advertises to the local pack that “hey I am here and I see you”, if one of your dogs is outside and is barking a lot at night get your spot light out and investigate. You said you live in an area with houses? Spend a little time outside at night and see if you can hear any of the local dogs barking, you may even hear the local pack communicating. Notice where they are each night, you will be able to tell when the group is typically in your area. We are very rural here so our pack has a huge range, we will hear them off in the distance for several weeks and then we will have a lot of activity for a few days and then they are gone again. We have a rule: if we can see them in the pastures we shoot them, at least shoot at them. We like the coyotes that are timid and are only heard; the bold ones that we see need to go. This is why I do not feel trapping helps since you could take a timid one just as easy as a bold one. We will always have coyotes, our job is to teach the pack that our farm is not a safe place for them to go.
Billy

[Billy Foster]

I spoke with Bob and he mentioned how easily it pulled. Could not clog it either. Rod I wish I realized you were there, We went both days, as the kids would say…bummer.
Billy

[Billy Foster]

Hi Rookie, welcome
I have a warm blood and 2 draft ponies, all weigh between 1100 and 1200lbs. The Warm blood gets more than twice what the draft ponies do for feed. The ponies get a hand full of grain a day, just enough to get them to the barn to pay attention to me :-). I feed coarse first cut timothy/reed canary hay. I am sure others will agree the feed requirements depend on the animal and the work it is doing. I just keep an eye on their weight and feed them accordingly, I have never had a problem keeping weight on the ponies so I have not thought of feeding them much grain, I would if they were getting thin. I keep mineral blocks around for them as well.
They all live together with free access to a good size paddock (temporary rope), I will often find all three in one 12×12 stall.
Billy

[Billy Foster]

No Donn it doesn’t. It is a pretty junky trailer but I find myself hooking to it quite often. I am planning on putting a solid running gear under it and rigging it to dump. I will post some pictures if/when it happens.

[Billy Foster]

That is one slick rig!

[Billy Foster]

Yes..Rod you reminded me of something else I do as a ritual, tie them to the barn for long stretches of time. Whenever I use them I will take them out, tack them up and clip them to the barn and leave them there. Depending on the work day I could use them for a few hours and they will be tied to the barn for 4 or 5 hour. I eat lunch or do chores, whatever. One other thing I do is leave them harnessed, with the bit in their mouth, for a while after I am done working for the day. I don’t want them to get the idea that going back to the barn means they are done.
Your guys stand nice Rod. Right now in the cold and only working with them on the weekends I will not leave them standing alone for very long at all. In the summer when they are working steady I feel very comfortable with them not walking off.
Here is a picture of the steel trailer we were hauling rocks with this summer, they would stand while we loaded a good load, we were throwing the rocks in, quite a racket but they were good about it.

[Billy Foster]

I can tell you that I always have the feeling either or of the 2 Haflinger geldings I have are never far from trying to get away with something. I handle them with kindness but they come up to a brick wall if they try to get away with something. Example: the 4 yo figured out very quickly that when I went out in the paddock to get him he could go into the run-in and keep turning his rear to me to get away from my putting a halter on him. The second time this happen he got slapped on the rear with the halter (hard enough to sting) and then pushed around the paddock by me for a couple laps. I had to repeat this exercise one other time. He now walks a few paces and stops when I come to him with a halter, I scratch him on the forehead first then put the halter on him. I am always prepared to run this drill again if he were to test me.
Here is a picture from the other day, I am in a new section of the wood lot and they were both throwing their heads and pawing the ground since they had not been to this landing before and did not feel comfortable. This is a case where I just set them up to not get themselves in trouble and let them be. They have to get used to this so I brought them down just to sit there while I split wood for a couple hours.
It seems to me that the first time I hook them after a little time off they are not as well behaved as when I left them but the second day is usually much better. In the summer when I would use them 4-5 times a week they would be an absolute pleasure to use. I think a lot of consistent use does them good.
Keep in mind I am a rookie but I use these 2 on our farm consistently so I have a lot of “learning type” experiences fresh in my mind.

[Billy Foster]

It always looks like you are having a good time Rod.
Billy

[Billy Foster]

It is interesting you saying it that way Earl. I think about how much my time racing sled dogs and growing up working with dairy cows has helped my now with the horses. I believe it is as you have said.
Billy

[Billy Foster]

From the rookies standpoint I see it as having enough time using horses to be able to keep your head when it does happen. It has happen to me twice (run aways), both times I got them stopped and both times I could have prevented it. I believe I have since had many times when it would have happen and I was luckily calm enough to end it before it escalated. I can finally “relax” and am able to think while working; hopefully seeing problems before they occur or I create them. I can remember in the beginning how terrifying just ground driving them down the driveway was, so many things going on at once. I remember telling someone that it is kind of ironic how something as “boring” looking as driving a couple horses down the driveway can actually be so scary for the green teamster. I never had the pleasure of someone to teach me about working horses but I can see where having an experienced teamster would keep it safer until the rookie gained enough experience to be able to at least think.
Billy

[Billy Foster]

Tell us about the plows
Billy

[Billy Foster]

I agree with Ericka it is light. The one time I saw it used was at HPD. The harrow was mounted on it and they had it on rougher plowed ground, it bounced around did not do a good job. I think it would do a great job in an established garden.

[Billy Foster]

Double posted and the delete is not working, Maybe it is double important 🙂

[Billy Foster]

These are my opinions based on MY experiences so they can be judged in that light. I have a fulltime job in town and the farm is just now holding its own. We have 30 acres of woods, 12 acres of owned pasture and another 10 of borrowed pasture. We have a decent sized garden for the family. Our focus is market lambs and pasture poultry.
Thoughts:
If you are planning on raising livestock on grass then you are going to want a lot of grass. Yes some woods for firewood is important but the majority should be pasture. If you are planning on being in a climate with a winter you will need more than you think since you will want to stockpile forage for the dormant season.
How many animals and what are you thinking of grazing? Are you planning a farm gate direct marketing plan or selling live weight to a broker.
Do not plan on clearing land, it is a slow, labor intensive or expensive process (unless you are young and looking for something to do).
Look for land with agriculture in the area, there are a lot of resourses available in agricultural communities that are not available in other areas.
You mentioned it will be a while before the pastures are fenced…GOOD. Work with temporary fences for a while until you determine were the fences should be for a good flow. we are on the 3rd year at our place and we are just getting the fences figured out.
Do what you are doing now and ask questions and listen. IF you are able to build a productive farm in the years to come you will look back and be able to say that the methods you have developed are the same as the advice that you had heard so many times. Another way of saying this is don’t try to reinvent the wheel if a bunch of people that are doing what you would like to be doing say something you should listen they know what they are talking about.
BIGGEST MOST IMPORTANT POINT: decide what you think you can do and cut it in half. A dairy farmer friend told me this when we first bought our place and he was right. I am always working, have a wife that is 100% behind me, I am a fit 45yo that grew up on a farm, and I struggle to keep up.
As I said just my opinions

Billy

[Billy Foster]

These are my opinions based on MY experiences so they can be judged in that light. I have a fulltime job in town and the farm is just now holding its own. We have 30 acres of woods, 12 acres of owned pasture and another 10 of borrowed pasture. We have a decent sized garden for the family. Our focus is market lambs and pasture poultry.
Thoughts:
If you are planning on raising livestock on grass then you are going to want a lot of grass. Yes some woods for firewood is important but the majority should be pasture. If you are planning on being in a climate with a winter you will need more than you think since you will want to stockpile forage for the dormant season.
How many animals and what are you thinking of grazing? Are you planning a farm gate direct marketing plan or selling live weight to a broker.
Do not plan on clearing land, it is a slow, labor intensive or expensive process (unless you are young and looking for something to do).
Look for land with agriculture in the area, there are a lot of recourses available in agricultural communities that are not available in other areas.
You mentioned it will be a while before the pastures are fenced…GOOD. Work with temporary fences for a while until you determine were the fences should be for a good flow. we are on the 3rd year at our place and we are just getting the fences figured out.
Do what you are doing now and ask questions and listen. IF you are able to build a productive farm in the years to come you will look back and be able to say that the methods you have developed are the same as the advice that you had heard so many times. Another way of saying this is don’t try to reinvent the wheel if a bunch of people that are doing what you would like to be doing say something you should listen they know what they are talking about.
BIGGEST MOST IMPORTANT POINT: decide what you think you can do and cut it in half. A dairy farmer friend told me this when we first bought our place and he was right. I am always working, have a wife that is 100% behind me, I am a fit 45yo that grew up on a farm, and I struggle to keep up.
As I said just my opinions

Billy

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